Thomas Coleman (1846-) was a Louisiana Creole fisherman and skiff captain who lived in Lagras, Livingston Parish, Louisiana during the late 19th century.
Biography[]
Thomas Coleman was born in Lagras, Livingston Parish, Louisiana in 1846 to a Creole family, and he was raised in the same fishing village and made a living for himself as a fisherman on Lake Maurepas. He and his business partner Jules Prioleau hunted alligators and crabs, and Coleman developed a disliking for Mafia boss Angelo Bronte, which motivated him to help Dutch van der Linde and his gang to take down Bronte in 1899. Van der Linde and Arthur Morgan helped Coleman check some crab traps in the swamp before rescuing Jules from an abnormally large alligator, and Coleman reciprocated by ferrying the Van der Linde Gang to the back of Bronte's estate and picking them up when they kidnapped Bronte. He watched as Dutch drowned Bronte in the bayou and threw his body into the water to be eaten by alligators, and the gang and Thomas then parted ways.